COLUMBUS, Ohio – During the past two months, Rep. John Becker has introduced a package of bills on hot-button elections issues, including proposals to require a photo ID to vote, roll back early-voting times, and ban pre-paid absentee ballots from being mailed to every Ohio voter.

Becker, a freshman Republican from Union Township, said the bills are designed to curb what he called the “chaos” of the state’s current voting system. He said he’s not sure of the bills’ prospects in the Ohio legislature.

One bill, House Bill 269, is the latest legislative attempt to require voters to present valid identification when casting a ballot. Acceptable forms of identification listed in Becker’s bill include a driver’s license, a state or military ID card, or a passport.

Becker said even his bank asks for photo identification whenever he makes a deposit.

“It’s just basic security for all kinds of transactions in our society,” he said. “And voting is something that I think deserves at least some minimal security. “

Democrats have criticized voter ID laws as essentially a poll tax that would block poorer residents from voting. Becker said his bill would provide a free state photo ID for anyone at or below the federal poverty level.

Two other bills dive into the ongoing debate over early-voting times, an issue that exploded in controversy and multiple lawsuits prior to last year’s elections.

House Bill 250 would reduce the number of early-voting days from 35 to 17, while House Bill 263 would set in-person absentee balloting hours during weekdays between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on a statewide basis.

Becker has also introduced House Bill 266, which would prevent Secretary of State Jon Husted from mailing unsolicited pre-paid voter registration forms or absentee ballot applications to all Ohio voters.

Under Becker’s proposal, the secretary of state could still send out such forms so long as the mailing didn’t cover the return postage. Local officials would be banned altogether from sending out such forms unsolicited, regardless of whether return postage was included.

The lawmaker said the bill is a response to Cuyahoga County's decision to send postage-paid absentee ballot applications to every registered voter in the county.

Becker said it “creates a lot of unnecessary expense" to send out forms to voters who didn’t ask for them and cover mailing costs.

A fifth piece of legislation, House Bill 240, would prohibit special elections from being held in February and August.

Becker said he intends to introduce a sixth and final elections bill soon that would limit participation in a party primary only to voters registered with that party.

Currently, Ohio has a “semi-open” primary, meaning voters choose a party affiliation when voting in a primary. However, they don’t have to register with a party to receive a primary ballot.

Becker says crossover voting “creates havoc for both parties.” As for partisans living in areas where the other party dominates, such as Republicans in Cleveland or Democrats in suburban Cincinnati, Becker said they could just re-register with the majority party to ensure they still have a say in who their elected officials are.

“It might not be Bull Connor. It might not be barking dogs or water hoses, but…they’re using 21st Century strategies similar to the segregationists of the South, and they’re doing it all over the country,” Turner said of proponents of increasingly restrictive voting laws.

“It is an absolute disgrace to the state of Ohio to have people elected who, instead of wanting to expand the franchise, are doing everything in their power to compress it just because they don’t want certain types of people to make it to the ballot box,” she said.

The senator predicted that Becker’s early-voting times would be successfully challenged in court if they passed.

Husted declined to offer his thoughts on Becker's bills. But he said he has pushed for the General Assembly to agree on a plan to set statewide early-voting days and hours into law.

"There are any number of ways that you could put together the days and the hours for an election that would be fair to all concerned, but the key is that it's done on a bipartisan basis," he said.